Imilce or Himilce was the Iberian wife of Hannibal Barca according to a number of historical sources.

History

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

records that Hannibal married a woman from

Castulo Castulo (Latin: ''Castulo''; Iberian: ''Kastilo'') was an Iberian town and bishopric (now Latin titular see located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, in south-central Spain, near modern Linares. History Evidence of human presence sin ...

, a powerful Iberian city allied with

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

., by Livy The Roman poet

Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book '' Punica'', an epic poem about the Second Punic War and the ...

identifies this woman as Imilce. Silius suggests a Greek origin for Imilce, but

Gilbert Charles-Picard Gilbert Picard, called Gilbert Charles-Picard, (15 October 1913 – 21 December 1998) was a 20th-century French historian and archaeologist, a specialist of North Africa during Antiquity. The son of Hellenist Charles Picard (1883–1965 ...

argued for a Punic heritage based on an etymology from the

Semitic root The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...

m-l-k ('chief', 'king'). Silius also suggests the existence of a son,Silius Italicus, ''Punica'', III, 63-64 who is otherwise not attested by Livy,

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

, or

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; ; ; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who prospered during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding the senior offices in the pr ...

. The son is thought to have been named Haspar or Aspar. According to Silius, during the

Punic wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and ...

Hannibal tearfully sent Imilce and their son back to Carthage for their safety. Some historians have questioned the historicity of this event and suggested that it is an imitation of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

sending his wife away to

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

for her safety during military conflict.

Cultural depictions

Imilce is honored in Baeza, Andalusia with a statue as part of the ''Fuente de Los Leones'' (meaning ''Fountain of the Lions'').

References

{{Reflist Hannibal 3rd-century BC women 2nd-century BC women 2nd-century BC Punic people Carthaginian women Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula

History

Cultural depictions

See also

References